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W. C. BRINTON.

MOTOR VEHICLE.

APPLICMION FILED AUG.26, 1916. 1,313,937. Patented Aug. 26, 1919,

FE'L 40 WILLARD o. salmon, or zmw roan, a. x.

MOTOR-VEHICLE...- f i i 1,313,937. Specification of Letters Patent.Patented Aug. '26, 1919.

PATENT *orFIcE.

having an ax e projection and an operative in accordance with my To allwhom it may concern: v

Be it known that I, WILLARD O. BRINTON, a citizen of the United Statesof'Am'erica, and a resident of New York, county and State of New York,have, invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Motor- Vehicles,of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part thereof. y invention relates tomotor vehicles, and has special reference to such as are equipped withdriving wheels of relatively small size and arerequired todevelopfconsiderable ower. 1 1 One ob ect ofmy invention is toprovide amotor wheel or motor wheel truck arranged to permit the turning of thewheels about vertical axes for steering and enable a driving motor to beutilized which is large relative to the size of the wheel whichf it"drives and which entirely avoids projections or obstructions below the.motor, such as; have usually limited the size of the motor. becauseofthe. clearance necessarily" maintained between the. echanism between thewheels and the: roadway. Another obiect'is to provides. wheel motorconnection between the wheel and-the motor, and a trunnion bracket abovethe motor forpivotally connecting themotor wheel as a unit, with atransverse axle bar which is.- above the axis of the wheel.

Stillanother object is to provide a trunnion structure for a wheel motorof the character above indicated, that shall permit the motor wheel tobe expeditiously connected or detached from the axle bar.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be set forthhereinafter, and in order that m invention may be thoroughly understoodwill now proceed to describe the same in the following specification,and then point out the novel features thereof in ap nded claims.

eferring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a artially sectional elevation of a vehicle truc arrangedand constructed invention and constituting an embodiment thereof.

Fi 2 is a partial plan view drawn to a smalfisr scale, of oneend of thevehicle showthe truck of Fig. 1. I

igs. 3 and 4 are respectively a plan view and a sectional planviewof'the trunnion Application filed August 26, 1916. Serial No.[117,032.

connection between the motor frame and the axle bar,"drawn to'arelatively larger scale. F 1g. 5- 'is' a fragmentary vie showing insectional elevation another f m of wheel motor connection; 1

In F i l to 4' inclusive,10 designates the plat orm or body of a motortruck, and l l atransverse axle bar, to which the body springs 12aresecur'ed. pair." ofmotor wheels 13 .are pivotally-m'ounted at therespeetlve ends of the "axle bar. lliand are s1m1lar to each other. i Q'Each motor wheelstructure comprises a motor frame 14 havin' abearinbracket .15, a shaft 16 rotatable tlerein, a is'k 17 havmg an axleprojection'l8, and a wheel 19 which is rotatively mounted .on the axlepro- The bearing bracket 15 which constitutes a part of the motorframe'is formed to provide asocket 20 and extends upwardly to" providean open receptacle 21. A pivot. pin122 is mounted in the socket 20 andextends upzwardly through a suitable hole 23 in the axle'bar 11 withinthe receptacle 21. In the upper part of the receptacle isa; trunnionblock Q-twhich is held in place by a transverse bolt 25.

The motor is operatively connected to the wheel by a suitable {gearingsuch as indi- "'cated at 26, and special attention is directed to thefact that each wheel and motor constitutes a unit which is connected toa single axis bar 11 in such away as to permit the wheel motor unit toswing on the trunnion pin as a pivotfor steering while the drivingconnection a is efliciently maintained at all times,no lost motion oruniversal joint connection being employed.

By the use of the structure above described, I am able to secure a verymarked advantage which will immediately appeal to those skilled in thisart, on account of the fact that there is no projection from the motorframe, or connection between the motors on the underside, the spacebetween .the

body of the motor and the roadway being unobstructed. This unobstructedspace must necessarily be maintained at a predetermined minimum,regardless of the structure employed and hence by the use of m inventionthe motor may be relatively large while at the same time its axis iscoincident with the axis of the wheel.

The wheel motor units may be connected arrangement is employed in a.vehicle com-- prising four similar driving units, it is only necessaryto carry one spare unit in order to permit the device to be keptv inrepair easily without removing it from service for any considerableperiod of time. i

A modified arrangement is shown in Fig. 5, according to which the motorframel t is provided with a complete trunnion projection 32 which ispreferably integral and has a socket 33 to receive the end of the axlebar 11, the bar being connected to the trunnion by a. pivot pin 34.

My invention is-well adapted foruse in a freight-handling truck suchas'that shown and described in, my copending application Serial No.802,192,'fi1ed Nov. 21, 1913, but its field ofusefulness is by no meanslimited in this regard, and I intend that only such limitations be.imposed as are indicated in the appended claims. VVhatI claim is: I 1.In a vehicle, the combination 'of a wheel motor comprising asubstantially horizontal motor shaft and a frame having a singletrunnion projection at the top, and a rigid shaft projection coaxialwith the An actuating member 30 the motor.

motor shaft constituting a Wheel axle, a wheel mounted on theaxle andgeared to the motor shaft and a single axle bar pivotally connected ,tosaid trunnion projection and adapted to support the vehicle body wherebythe motor frame may be large relative to the size of the Wheel.

, 2. A vehicle truck comprising an axle bar, a pair of motors eachhaving a socket and a receptacle projection extending upwardlytherefrom, a trunnion pin mounted in the socket and extending upwardlythrough one end of the axle bar within the receptacle, and a trunnionblockremovably secured to the receptacle above the axle bar, and a Wheeloperatively connected and secured to 8. A motor Wheel for vehiclescompris ing a shaft, a frame havinga trunnion projection on the top andan axle rojcction at one end coaxial with the motor sliaft, a wheelmounted on the axle-projection, an operative connection between themotor and the wheel, and an axle bar above the motor pivotally connectedto the trunnion projection.

- 4. A vehicle truck comprising a pair of driving wheels, independentmotors having motorshafts and axle projections beyond the motor shaftsand coaxial therewith for the wheels and means for operativelyconnecting the motor shaft to the respective Wheels, a single axle barabove the'motors, and trunnion projections extending'upwardly from themotor frames and pivotally connected to the axle bar.

In witness whereof I havehereu'nto set my hand this 24th day of August,1916.

I LARD o. BRINToN.

